A decade-long transformation of the listed Great Northern Warehouse has been backed by council bosses.

Town hall chiefs want apartments created within the landmark building and a new pedestrianised street running behind Deansgate from Peter Street to the Hilton - as well as a new skyscraper to ‘complement’ the Beetham Tower .

The cinema would stay but be reduced in size - while the ‘clock tower’ at the Peter Street corner of the site would be demolished to make way for a new office building.

‘Loft-style’ apartments are also planned for the upper floors of the terrace fronting Deansgate.

In a report going before the council’s executive next week, chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein admitted officers had been trying to get the landmark revamped for some time and said it was ‘sorely needed’.

But it was only when Peterson stepped forward that it began to look likely.

According to the report, the council’s masterplan - some or all of which would be carried out by Peterson - will ‘breathe new life’ into the area while ‘undoing’ the damage it says was inflicted when the building was last developed in the late 1990s.

One of the most radical moves will be to open a new pedestrian street along the back of Deansgate, opening up new shops on that side of the terrace.

The building that used to house furniture shop Dwell would be demolished to make way for it.

Phase one of the plan - which is pencilled in to start next year - will see the Great Northern square re-landscaped and a new office building built at the corner of Peter Street.

From 2018, the upstairs level of the warehouse building would be converted from car parking into apartments.

Penthouse apartments are planned for above Deansgate Mews, followed by a tall tower of flats - started by 2023 - on Watson Street that would have shops and restaurants at ground floor, designed to ‘complement’ the Beetham Tower.

The draft plan will now be put out to public consultation or residents and businesses to have their say. The matter will come back to the council executive at a later date, with planning applications likely to come back to the town hall.

FACTFILE - Great Northern Warehouse

Construction started in 1885

Completed in 1898

Built above the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal

It is the former railway goods warehouse of the Great Northern Railway

There was originally a dock beneath the building to allow goods to be transported from the canal network to rail